Munition destruct apparatus

ABSTRACT

A container for the placement of discarded and defective explosive items. Upon placement, the defective items drop through a baffle arrangement and come to rest on electrically charged plates. The charged plates detonate the items causing them to disintegrate and fall harmlessly to the base of the container.

United States Patent 11 1 1111 3,905,272

Johnson Sept. 16, 1975 MUNITION DESTRUCT APPARATUS 2,404,441 7/1946Hopkins 89/1 R 3,793,101 2/1974 Mullarkey 86/1 R [751 Inventor :30bbyDean Johnson Buflmgtonr 3,820,435 6/1974 Rogers et a1. 89/1 R owa [73]Assignee: The United States of America as Primary ExaminerSamuelFeinberg represented by the Secretary of the Assistant ExaminerC. T.Jordan Army, Washington, DC. Attorney, Agent, or FirmNathan Edelberg;Robert P. 22 Filed: Mar. 15, 1974 Glbson; Pemhem [21] Appl. No.: 451,403ABSTRACT A container for the placement of discarded and defec- (g1 28:501; five explosive items. p placement the defective [58] Fie'ld 186/] R items drop through a baffle arrangement and come to rest onelectrically charged plates. The charged plates References Citeddetonate the items causing them to disintegrate and fall harmlessly tothe base of the container. UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,315,800 4/1943Rochester et a1. 89/1 R 5 Claims, 1 Drawing Figure H g 22 4a 4 44MUNITION DESTRUCT APPARATUS GOVERNMENTAL INTEREST The inventiondescribed herein may be manufactured, used and licensed by or for theGovernment for governmental purposes without the payment to me of anyroyalty thereon.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION:

This invention relates to an apparatus for placement of discarded anddefective explosive items and, more particularly, for rendering suchitems harmless after placement. While the structure of the presentinvention is useful in numerous types of shielding applications, itsadvantages are most evident as a safety device in the field ofammunition manufacture.

In the production of munitions, it is frequently desired to dispose ofvarious types of explosive items because of inherent defects, rejectionor missing parts in an item. The procedure has been to drop thediscarded items into a container of water. Periodically, an explosivehandler would remove the contents of the container and move the items toa demolition area for purposes of destruction. It is not uncommon forcontainers to have fragile, delicate and unstable explosive componentsplaced therein. It is therefore essential that the discarded items betreated gently and deactivated as quickly as possible when a defect isdetermined without moving them to another area or to have it accumulatein a storage area.

The aforementioned disposal method is known to be disadvantageous sinceit is a dangerous, unreliable and cumbersome method to handle defectiveexplosives. For example, it is not uncommon for containers which arebeing moved containing defective munitions to det onate because thewater in the container did not neutralize the explosive. Anotherdisadvantage commonly encountered is that defective munitions storednear a work area tend to detonate for unknown reasons causing multipleexplosions.

Another example of hazards presently encountered for carriers containingunstable components is that detonation may be caused by a shock impartedby a jarring or an accidental drop. Therefore great danger isexperienced when explosives are moved from the assembly line to thedemolition area. In fact, the accumulation of explosives in a containeris of pronounced danger to the entire assembly area because explosivesare in a different stage of inactivation. In addition, the mere storingof defective munitions is perilous since it creates a hazardouscondition in an otherwise safe surrounding.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION These deficiencies of the prior art areovercome by the instant invention by inactivating the defectiveexplosives right at the assembly line, causing no accumulation ormovement of munitions in the assembly area. Furthermore, it provides adestruct device which obviates the major difficulties afflictingmunition loading by permitting in-place disposal which eliminateshandling defective munitions.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide an apparatuswhich will insure that defective explosive items are properly isolated.

It is another object to provide an apparatus capable of detonatingunexploded munitions.

Another object is to provide an apparatus where defective munitions canbe inactivated at the assembly line, thereby permitting personnel tocontinue to work by removing inherent hazards fromthe work area.

It is still another object to provide a simple method of munitiondestruction, with control and dependability, to reduce hazards.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent tothose skilled in the art from the following detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING The single FIGURE of the drawing is acrosssectional front view of an apparatus incorporating the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT With reference to thedrawing, there is shown, by way of illustration only, one form ofmunition destruct apparatus 12. The apparatus 12 comprises anaxiallyelongated rectangular outer housing 14 containing anaxially-elongated centrally-located inner housing l6.

The drawing is a vertical sectional view of the.munition destructapparatus 12. The housing 14 is formed by an outer casing 18 of woodsupported by angle irons 20. Thick sound insulating material 22 isattached to the interior of the housing 14 to contain and muffleinternal noises. The inner housing 16 made of case iron or steel andattached to the housing 14 at its base.

The housing 14 at its upper end is provided with an opening 24 in whichis disposed a first chute 26. The chute 26 preferably extends throughthe opening 24 at an angle as indicated in the drawing. The bottom endof the chute 26 is open at 28 and directed toward a first hopper 30.Mounted on top of the housing 14 is a second hopper 34 the base of whichis attached to chute 26. The hopper 34 is supported by brackets 36 andis enclosed by a cover 32 attached to the housing 14. Hopper 30 isattached to the top of the inner housing 16. Attached to the base of thehopper 30 is a second chute 38 leading into the inner housing 16. Theinterior of the inner housing 16 forms an intercellular cavity withsectional baffle plates 40. These baffle plates 40, which are verticaland inclined, lead downwardly from the chute 38. The baffle plates 40have a dual purpose, to direct the defective munition by gravity downinto the labyrinth of the inner housing 16, and to minimize explosiveand concussion forces from beneath the plates 40. Secured within thelower end of the inner housing 16, below the baffle plates 40, are twoopposing transverse inclined metallic plates 42 attached to the wall 44of the inner housing 16 by electrical insulating blocks 46. The plates42 are electrically charged and separated from each other by a gap 48 inorder to act as a circuit breaker.

Above the transverse plates 42 is a square baffle 50 extending betweenthe walls of the inner housing 16 and centrally located. The baffleplates 40 extend between the walls of the inner housing 16 and areattached thereto by welding, or in any other desired manner.

In operation, the munition destruct apparatus 12 is placed near anassembly line dealing with explosive items. This permits in-placedisposal by the assembler negating additional handling of defectivemunitions.

Upon the discovery of a defective detonator cap or booster, theassembler drops the defective item into the apparatus 12 by placing itin hopper 34. The hopper 34 and the attached chute 26 do not allow largeamounts of detonators and boosters to be fed in at once. The itemdeposited in the hopper 34 falls down to the inclined planes formed bythe baffle plates 40 and comes to rest on the transverse plates 42. Theinsulated transverse plates 42 are spaced less than the diameter of theitem deposited. An AC voltage is applied across the plates. When an itemfalls to the transverse plates 42 and is in contact with both plates, anelectrical current is drawn producing heat and arcs, which causes theitem to be detonated. The residual portions of the item fall through thegap 48 between the plates 42 down to the base of the inner housing 16.

I wish it to be understood that I do not desire to be limited to theexact details of construction shown and described for obviousmodifications will occur to a person skilled in the art.

What is claimed is:

l. A munition destruct apparatus comprising:

a housing;

a heat and sound insulating partition in said housing;

an inner housing fixed within said housing;

a chute in said housing and said inner housing permitting communication;

baffle plates within said inner housing to convey items downward in aguided fashion;

transverse plates, within said inner housing and forming an apex belowsaid baffle plates, spaced and electrically insulated from each otherand adapted to be electrically charged to act as a circuit breaker;whereby a munition placed in said chute of said housing will fall bygravity past said baffle plates on to the apex of said transverse platesclosing the electrical circuit causing the munition to detonate.

2. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein an outer hopper ismounted on said chute and attached to said housing.

3. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein an inner hopper isplaced between said housing and said inner housing to guide the fallingmunition.

4. The apparatus as recited in claim I, wherein said bafile plates forma series of independent explosivecontaining compartments in the upperportion of said inner housing thus dividing said inner housing into anupper section and a lower section.

5. The apparatus as recited in claim 4, wherein said transverse platesare canted downward to provide said apex and arranged within said lowersection and form a longitudinal series of partitions arranged within theopposite sides of said inner housing cooperating with each other toprovide a circuit breaker.

1. A munition destruct apparatus comprising: a housing; a heat and soundinsulating partition in said housing; an inner housing fixed within saidhousing; a chute in said housing and said inner housing permittingcommunication; baffle plates within said inner housing to convey itemsdownward in a guided fashion; transverse plates, within said innerhousing and forming an apex below said baffle plates, spaced andelectrically insulated from each other and adapted to be electricallycharged to act as a circuit breaker; whereby a munition placed in saidchute of said housing will fall by gravity past said baffle plates on tothe apex of said transverse plates closing the electrical circuitcausing the munition to detonate.
 2. The apparatus as recited in claim1, wherein an outer hopper is mounted on said chute and attached to saidhousing.
 3. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein an inner hopperis placed between said housing and said inner housing to guide thefalling munition.
 4. The apparatus as recited in claim 1, wherein saidbaffle plates form a series of independent explosive-containingcompartments in the upper portion of said inner housing thus dividingsaid inner housing into an upper section and a lower section.
 5. Theapparatus as recited in claim 4, wherein said transverse plates arecanted downward to provide said apex and arranged within said lowersection and form a longitudinal series of partitions arranged within theopposite sides of said inner housing cooperating with each other toprovide a circuit breaker.